FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT OAK FOREST HOSPITAL - PAGE 3

Oak Forest Hospital of Cook County has opened a 215-bed facility designed to treat AIDS and tubercular patients. On Tuesday, 84 long-term patients were moved into the building at 15900 S. Cicero Ave. "Once (the hospital) is fully operational, the new facility will enable the county to expand its capacity for treating AIDS and TB patients," Cook County Board President Richard Phelan said. "This new facility will allow Cook County to better manage these two serious diseases."

Attending physicians at Cook County's Oak Forest Hospital are eligible to form a union, the Illinois Labor Relations Board ruled Thursday, granting the doctors what has been twice denied their counterparts at Stroger Hospital. The board's 2-1 decision upheld an administrative law judge's ruling in August that the 48 doctors are not managerial employees and have the right to unionize. If the doctors are successful in forming a union, they would join a relatively rare collection of attending physicians nationwide that have done so. The labor board in the past has turned down attempts by doctors at Cook County Hospital, now Stroger Hospital, because they supervise residents.

Cook County officials will begin scaling back services at Oak Forest Hospital on Wednesday, but won't shutter it in the face of opposition from unions and a state regulatory board. The intensive care unit and acute rehabilitation department will be suspended and emergency room care streamlined. Of the 20 patients remaining in the hospital's 213 beds, eight will be discharged or relocated to other facilities by the end of the week, sources said. The others, including four long-term care and six ventilator-dependent patients, will remain at Oak Forest.

A single dissenting vote Tuesday shelved Cook County's controversial plan to shutter Oak Forest Hospital, sending officials scrambling to figure out what to do with remaining patients and how to overturn the decision. County Board President Toni Preckwinkle was stunned by the state hospital planning board's denial, which blasted a hole in the county health system's budget and derailed its strategic blueprint to overhaul services. The county was set to close the south suburban hospital June 1 and turn it into an outpatient clinic with primary care doctors, specialists and diagnostic testing.

With Cook County struggling to consolidate health care services, the state is on the verge of voting to shutter inpatient care at Oak Forest Hospital, a move some critics say will devastate patients and the community. A county proposal to convert the hospital into a large outpatient center will be considered Monday by the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board, which is expected to support the plan. The move to end inpatient care was one of the more controversial proposals in the county's sweeping new strategy, unveiled in June, to address longstanding inefficiencies and improve preventive care in the Cook County Health & Hospitals System.

Edmund G. Lawler's favorite memory as a White Sox fan came in 1959, when he caught a home run ball by future Hall of Famer Nellie Fox, his eldest son said. "He was so elated. Dad always had a soft spot for the Sox," said his son Edmund. The soft spot extended to outside the major leagues when the Lawler family moved into the executive house on a 350-acre portion of Oak Forest Hospital in 1961. It was fully equipped with a softball field, where Mr. Lawler excelled playing on a team of hospital administrators, his son said.

For a man who had dreams of going somewhere with his guitar-playing, learning to paint was not among his plans--let alone painting by using his mouth to work a brush. Artemio Garcia, a quadriplegic patient at Oak Forest Hospital since 1992, says painting also is easing his fears that he might not be able to contribute meaningfully to society. Garcia, 31, recently put the finishing touches on a holiday card for the hospital, a white dove balanced in a deep blue sky atop a globe of the world.

Helen E. Stavron, age 88, lifelong resident of Oak Forest. Retired clerk for the Canadian National Grand Trunk Railroad. A loyal Cub fan. Volunteer for St. Vincent DePaul for over 50 years at Oak Forest Hospital. Beloved daughter of the late Constantine and Anna Stavron; dearest sister of George (the late Leola) Stavron, Patina (the late Bernard) Krause, Martha (the late Elmer) Simon and the late Jennie (Anthony) Massey; loving aunt of 19 nieces and nephews; great and great-great nieces and nephews.

Rev. Paulinus Grosskopf, 79, the longtime chaplain of Oak Forest Hospital, died Sunday at St. James Hospital Medical Center in Chicago Heights. Father Grosskopf, whose nickname was Bernard, was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1938. During World War II, he was assigned to the missions of northern China where he was imprisoned by the Japanese from 1941 to 1945. In 1948, he went to work as a missionary with Chippewa Indians in Wisconsin where he was adopted as a member of the tribe that lived on the Lac Courte Oreilles reservation.

Mass for Aileen B. Oliver, 83, a former secretary for Chicago Bridge & Iron Co., will be said at 11 a.m. Friday in St. Cajetan Catholic Church, 112th Street and Artesian Avenue. Mrs. Oliver, of the Southwest Side, died Tuesday in Oak Forest Hospital, Oak Forest. She had been active in the St. Cajetan Altar and Rosary Society and a volunteer at Oak Forest Hospital. Survivors include 3 daughters, Jean Lawler, Nancy McDonough and Kathleen Henes; and 14 grandchildren.